Toy vehicle for children



Feb. 26, 1935.

c. P. HANSEN TOY VEHICLE FOR CHILDREN Filed June 22, 1932 cfiwezzibr; Car-Z Pith 7 Hans w Afro/718] Patented Feb. 26, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application June 22, 1932, Serial No..618,756 In Germany July 10, 1931 2 Claims.

The present invention relates to toy vehicles and particularly to toy vehicles comprising two wheels of unequal size of which the larger front wheel is driven by means of hand-operated cranks. Toy vehicles of this kind are known per se. In the known vehicles the playing child rests with the upper part of the body on the inclined upwardly and forwardly directed part of the frame which interconnects the front wheel and the rear wheel. The feet hereby usually rest on steps which are fixed to the vehicle frame but in many cases no feet rests or supports are provided at all. The front wheel is in the same manner as at bicycles mounted in a fork-shaped member, which is pivotally arranged in the vehicle frame. This arrangement however renders a proper steering difiicult and the driving merely by means of the hand-operated cranks is tiresome. Hereto comes the uncomfortable and inconvenient leaning of the body to the upper part of the frame without any possibility of using the legs or altering the position of the body.

It is an object of the present invention to do away with the above named drawbacks and to provide a construction involving more possibilities of entertaimnent than the hand-operated or foot-operated toy vehicles hitherto known. According to the invention the fork in which the rear wheel is mounted is pivotally arranged in the vehicle frame and the rear wheel is equipped with foot rests which are arranged on both sides of the wheel, relatively near the ground. The playing child may, when driving, stand in bent position with both feet on the foot rests hereby moving the vehicle by means of the crank of the front wheel and steering the same by turning the rear wheel. Another manner of driving consists in standing erect with one foot on one of the foot rests and pushing the vehicle forward by means of the free leg in the same manner as in the known scooters.

A constructional form of the invention is shown by way of example in the accompanying drawing in which.

Fig. 1 is a side View, Fig, 2 a plan view and Fig. 3 an end view of a toy vehicle according to the invention.

1 denotes the larger front wheel, the shaft 2 of which is rotatably arranged in the vehicle frame 3. The hand-operated cranks 4 are fixed to the shaft 2. The shaft 6 of the rear wheel 5 is rotatably arranged in a fork-shaped member or support 7 the lower ends of which are equipped with foot rests 8. The upper end 9 of the forkshaped member 7 terminates in a pivot 9, which is taken up by a suitable bearing in the frame 3. The upwardly and forwardly directed uppermost member of the frame 3 is made relatively, wide, so that it may serve as a comfortable breast support. When the playing child is standing erect on one of the foot rests, hereby pushing the vehicle forward by means of the free leg as with a scooter, the widened uppermost part of the vehicle frame may also serve as hand hold or hand rest.

In order to start thevehicle the playingchild may for instance catch the breast support or breast plate with both hands, place one foot upon one of the foot rests and push the vehicle forward with the other leg, as at a scooter. If the-child wants to drive the vehicle by means of the cranks it places both feet on the foot rests 8, leans against the breast supports, catches the crank members 4 and rotates the front wheel by means of same. Simultaneously the vehicle is steered by turning the pivotally arranged rear wheel by means of the feet. When travelling down-hill or when the vehicle is running idly no driving force is needed and the playing child may therefore stand with both legs on the foot rests simultaneously gripping the breast support with both hands.

I claim:---

1. A toy vehicle comprising a plurality of I wheels, a vehicle frame interconnecting said wheels, a pivotally arranged support for the rear wheel of the vehicle, for turning said rear wheel for guiding purposes, and means for manually propelling the vehicle, said support having a pair of foot rests whereby the vehicle may be propelled by one foot of the operator by pushing the vehicle while the other foot rests on one of the foot rests or the propulsion may be accomplished by the manual means.

2. A toy vehicle comprising a vehicle frame, having an upwardly and forwardly directed plateshaped support member, a front wheel rotatably arranged in said frame, a fork-shaped rear wheel support pivotally arranged in said frame, a rear wheel ro'tatably arranged in said support, handoperated cranks for rotating the front wheel, and foot rests secured to the lower ends of said forkshaped support and adapted to be used as steering members for turning said support about the axis of the pivotal connection.

CARL PHILIPP HANSEN. 

